Thursday, 12 September 2013

A Joint Bewick Society and Natural History Society of
Northumbria Lecture.

“SUBJECTS
OF COMMON AND FAMILIAR LIFE, SUCH AS HAVE NOT BEEN TOUCHED BY OTHER ARTISTS”: BEWICK’S COUNTRY SCENES IN CONTEXT.

A lecture by Professor Diana Donald

Bewick’s earthy
view of rural life seems to be almost a parody of the idealising scenes
produced by many painters of his time. Yet the naturalism of these
images masks unexpected tensions: they express Bewick’s troubled response to the great agricultural changes then
taking place – changes which his own friends promoted.

Diana Donald
is a retired Professor of Art History and Head of the Department of History of Art and Design at
Manchester
Metropolitan University. She is the author of many books including
Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts
(2009) and Picturing Animals in Britain,
1750 - 1850 (2007).

Her latest book
The Art of Thomas Bewick will be published by Reaktion
Books in June 2013 and Diana’s illustrated lecture will be based on her
research for the book.

The Church-yard Cavalry

About Me

The aim of the Bewick Society is to promote an interest in the life and work of Thomas Bewick and related subjects, especially with regard to wood-engraving. The Society publishes a Journal called the Cherryburn Times, normally twice a year. This provides a forum for the activities of the Society and keeps members informed about the latest research into the life and work of Bewick and his apprentices. Members publish articles about their own special interests where relevant to the Society. The Society also arranges visits to special collections, some of which are not normally open to the general public. It encourages the development of facilities for conservation and display of Bewick related materials, including wood-engraving as practised by those following in Bewick's footsteps. Membership of the Society also gives free admission to the museum at Cherryburn, where Thomas Bewick was born, now in the care of the National Trust